Combined tail light and license-tag illuminator



Jan. 5 1-926.

A. HEMMER COIBINED TAIL LIGHT AND LICENSE TAG ILLUMINATOR Filed May 1, 1924 Patented Jan. 5, 1926.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ALBERT HEMMER, OF LINCOLN, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO HAROLD A.

V SCHNEIDER, OF NEW MARKET, NEW JERSEY.

COMBINED TAIL LIGHT AND LICENSE-TAG ILLUMINATOR.

Application filed May 1,

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALBERT HEMMER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Lincoln, in the county of Middlesex and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Combined Tail Lights and License-Tag Illuminators, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a combined tail light and license tag illuminating device, and has as its general object to provide a device which may be attached to any standard license tag and which will constitute a tail light as well as an illuminating means for the said tag, so that the tag will be vis ible at night.

Another object of the invention is to provide a device of the class mentioned which will be simple in construction, inexpensive to manufacture, and so constructed that it will not be liable to disarrangement of its component parts even under rough usage.

Another object of the invention is to provide, in a device of the class mentioned, means whereby light ray transmitting panes may be illuminated to display the name of the State in which the tag was issued, and .the year in which it was issued, the inven tion contemplating mounting these panes in such manner that they may be readily removed and replaced from year to year.

In the accompanying drawing:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the device embodying the invention mounted upon an ordinary license tag;

Figure 2 is a vertical front to rear sectional view taken substantially on the line 2--2 of Figure 1 looking in the direction indicated by the arrows;

Figure 3 is a horizontal sectional view taken on the line 33 of Figure 1 looking in the direction indicated by the arrows;

Figure 4: is a vertical sectional view taken substantially on the line ll of Figure 2 looking in the direction indicated by the arrows;

Figure 5 is a side elevation. of one lower corner of the casing of the device.

The device embodying the invention comprises a casing which is indicated in general by the numeral 1 and which includes a front wall 2, a rear wall 3, and a top wall 1, the casing being open at its bottom. Preferably the casing is formed substantially in its entirety from a single sheet metal blank 1924. Serial No. 710,342.

bent along parallel lines to so position portrons of the blank as to constitute the walls referred to, the blank including other portions indicated by the numeral 5 and constituting the end walls of the casing. One end wall of the casing is provided with a right angularly inwardly turned flange 6, and the front wall 2 of the casing is provided along its lower edge with an upwardly and inwardly turned flange 7, the rear wall 3 of the casing being formed by crimping or otherwise, to provide a channel 8. The opposite end wall of the casing is devoid of the equivalent of the flange 6, and the bottom of the casing is therefore designed for the reception of a pane 9 of glass or other transparent material, one edge. of which is slidably seated in the channel 8, the opposite longitudinal edge being supported upon the flange 7, and one end edge being supported upon the flange 6. Means is provided for retaining the pane 9 in placewithin the bottom of the casing, the said means comprising a strip of sheet metal indicated by the numeral 10 provided at its lower margin with a right angularl extending flange 11, the said strip being formed with open ings 12 designed to register with openings 13 formed in the respective end wall 5 of the casing, screws 14 being fitted through the openings 13 and threaded into the openings12 so as to secure the retaining member in place, the flange 11 of the said member supporting the other end edge of the pane 9, as clearly shown in Figure l of the drawings. The end walls 5 of the casing are preferably provided at their rear vertical edges with inturned flanges 15 which 'may .be secured in any manner desired, to the rear face of the rear wall 3 of the easing, thus preventing an unfolding or displacement of the portions of the blank comprising the walls of the said casing. By reference to Figures 1 and 2 of the drawings it will be observed that the top wall a of the casing is inclined upwardly from the rear wall3 to the front wall 2, and that the open bottom of the casing is inclined downwardly from the said rear wall to the front wall 2. p

In order that the device may be attached to an ordinary license tag, the channel 8 which receives and supports the rear longitudinal edge of the pane 9, is located somewhat above the lower edge of the said wall 3, so that the lower portion of the wall extends below the bottom of the casing, this portion being preferably folded back upon itself as indicated by the numeral 16, to provide reinforcements, and this portion being provided openings through which may be secured bolts 17 passing also through the upper corners of the license tag which is indicated by the numeral 18. In this manner the device is supported upon the tag in position extending longitudinally of the upper edge of the tag and with the pane 9 presented at an angle. downwardly toward the face of the tag. In order that the license tag upon which the device is mounted may be illuminated, an electric lamp socket 19 is mounted through the rear wall 3 of the casingat a point substantially midway between the ends of the casing and is equipped with a bulb 20, current being supplied through a flexible conductor 21 leading from any suitable source of current supply. lVhen the light is burning, the rays therefrom will, of course, be directed through the pane 9, both directly from the lamp bulb and by reflection from the under surface of the top wall 4: of the casing, and onto the face of the said tag, thus fully illuminating the same. The numeral 22 indicates an annular flange which is stamped out from the front wall 2 of the casing and defines an opening 23 located directly in advance of the bulb 20,. and fitted to. this flange is a split collar 24, the ends of which may be drawn together by a b0lt'25, the collar being provided circumferentially with a rim 26 which engages the periphery of a lens 27 which is red in color, the peripheral portion ofthe said lens being disposed against lugs 27 stamped from the saidflange 22 as clearly shown in Figure 2 of the drawings. At this point it will be understood that by removing the bolt 25, the collar 24 may beopened sufficiently to permit of removal of. the lens 27 for the purpose of removing and replacing the bulb 20.

The front wall 2 of the casing is preferably formed with two openings, indicated one by the numeral 28 and the other by the numeral 29, these openings being of the elliptical form shown in Figure 1 of the drawings or of any desired form. The material of the front wall of the casing is stamped or otherwise formed to provide. a seating flange 30 extending about the respective opening 28 or 29 as the case may be, and transparent panes 31 are arranged within each of the openings 28 and 29 and at their marginal portions rest against the flanges 30. Disposed within the opening 28, for example, is an opaque plate which may be of metal or any other material and which is indicated by the numeral 32, and this plate has open letters 33 stamped out from the same and representing theabbreviation of the State in which the license tag was issued. Bolts 34 are secured through the marginal portions of the plate 32 and pane 31 and through the respective flange 30 so as to removably secure these partsin position within the openin 28. In a like manner, a similar pane is arranged within the opening 29, and a plate 36 correspomling to the plate 32 is also arranged within the said opening, bolts 37 corresponding to the bolts 3-l being provided for securing these parts in place. The plate 36 is preferably provided with open numerals 38 stamped or otherwise formed therein and representing the abbreviation of the year in which the tag was issued. The openings 28 and 29 are preferably located at opposite sides of the opening 23 in which the tail light lens 27 is arranged, and the arrangen'ient is therefore a symmetrical one.

From the foregoing description of the invention it will be understood that the single electric light bulb 20 supplies light rays for illuminating both the license tag 18 and the tail light lens 27 as well as the State and year denoting sign members in the openings 28 and 29.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new is:

1. In a device of the character described, a casing open at its bottom and having a top, a front wall provided at its lower end with an inwardly extending flange, a rear wall and end walls, said rear wall being shaped to provide a longitudinally extending internal seat intermediate its upper and lower edges and one of said end walls having its lower edge extending from the front wall to the rear wall in a plane intersecting the rear wall above the seat and the other end wall provided at its lower end with an inwardly extending flange extending from the flange of the front wall to the rearwall in a plane intersecting the rear wall below the seat, a transparent closure plate slid into the casing beneath the first-mentioned end wall and resting in said seat andupon the flanges of the front wall and second-mentioned end wall, means carried by the firstmentioned end wall to releasably hold said closure in place, said rear wall having its portion beneath the seat extending in depending relation to said closure and adapted to be connected with the upper. portion of a sign to support the sign beneath the casing, and a source of illumination within the casing.

2. A device of the class described comprising a casing having front and rear walls located in vertical parallel planes, a top wall extending between the upper edges of the rear and front walls and inclined up- *ardly from the rear to the front wall, the casing being open at its bottom, the rear wall having a channel extending longitudinally thereof above its lower edge, the front wall having an inwardly extending flange located in a plane below the plane of the channel, a transparent pane supported at its rear and front edges respectively in and upon the channel and flange in a plane in clined downwardly from the rear to the front wall of the casing, the portion of the rear wall below the channel constituting means whereby the casing may be attached to a license tag to be illuminated, and a source of illumination within the said cas- 111 3. A device of the class described comprising a casing having front and rear walls located in vertical parallel planes, a top wall extending between the upper edges of the rear and front walls and inclined upwardly from the rear to the front wall, the casing being open at its bottom, the rear wall having a channel extending longitudinally thereof above its lower edge, the front wall having an inwardly extending flange located in a plane below the plane of the channel, a transparent pane supported at its rear and front edges respectively in and upon the channel and flange in a plane inclined downwardly from the rear to the front wall of the casing, the portion of the rear wall below the channel constituting means whereby the casing may be attached to a license tag to be illuminated, a source of illumination within the said casing, and a tail light lens in the front wall of the casing in advance of the source of illumination.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

ALBERT HEMMER. [11. 5.] 

